COLLEGE STATION — When news of the Longhorn Network popped up two years ago, Texas A&M used its rival's unprecedented — and some say unfair — deal with ESPN as a solid excuse to bolt the then-wobbly Big 12 for the more stable grounds of the Southeastern Conference.

On Thursday, the SEC presented A&M with one more big reason why its move a year ago continues to look like an awfully smart endeavor. League commissioner Mike Slive officially announced the birth of the SEC Network, although he declined to discuss financial specifics.

The cost of the Aggies' revitalized Kyle Field, announced Wednesday and set for a grand opening in August 2015? $450 million. The SEC Network? Apparently it's priceless.

“We would not have done this if we didn't believe it would be in the long-term benefit of the league, both in terms of distribution and in terms of revenue,” Slive said. “We are both happy.”

“We” means the SEC and the cable network that, now humorously, helped drive the Aggies out of the Big 12 and away from longtime rivals such as Texas and Baylor. ESPN, the “Worldwide Leader” in sports, also is the driving force behind the SEC Network, and the two sides announced a 20-year agreement, with the network launching in August 2014.

“This conference has national appeal,” ESPN president John Skipper told reporters during a jolly news conference Thursday in Atlanta. “This is not a regional network. This is a national network.”

Although it won't crank up for another 15 months, the SEC Network already has a distributor in AT&T U-verse and intends to have others before its launch.

“There are a lot of SEC fans in (places such as) California, Michigan, Connecticut, Nebraska ... we expect to be in all of those places,” Skipper said.

The SEC Network will feature about 1,000 live games in its first year, with 450 on television and another 550 distributed digitally.

“This network is going to take the SEC out of the SEC — we're now a national conference,” A&M athletic director Eric Hyman said. “What's particularly exciting is the investment in new technology, which will bring the SEC to the entire nation anywhere, anytime.”

Hyman, second-year football coach Kevin Sumlin and longtime track coach Pat Henry represented A&M in Atlanta, and Sumlin — who led the Aggies to an 11-2 finish in their first season in the SEC — continues riding the wave of all this freshness surrounding A&M.

“Instead of people thinking we're a regional deal in the SEC, this is a network for all of our sports and will showcase them nationally,” Sumlin told reporters in Atlanta. “When I got (to A&M), there had been rumblings (about a network), just like everything else, but certainly we knew something was coming.

“Now, everybody knows where we're headed and what the possibilities are.”

Back in Aggieland, the main man behind A&M's move to the SEC, university president R. Bowen Loftin, further enjoyed what has been an incredible road so far for the Aggies in their new Southern digs.

“In only one year, membership in the SEC has brought us tremendous national visibility,” Loftin said, “and greatly enhanced the Texas A&M brand.”

Leading to the question: Where would Texas A&M and its brand be today if it was still in the Big 12?

“Well, we wouldn't have had as big a week as we've had,” said Jason Cook, A&M's senior associate athletic director, with a chuckle. “With the news on Kyle Field's redevelopment and the SEC Network's unveiling, this has been a very significant week for Texas A&M.”